google.com, pub-2774194725043577, DIRECT, f08c47fec0942fa0 L.A.Times Crossword Corner: Thursday, June 7th 2018 Mark McClain

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Jun 7, 2018

Thursday, June 7th 2018 Mark McClain

Theme: Round in Circles - things that revolve are nattily revealed by an appropriate agent - the circles.

Clockwise from the NE we have

WINDMILL

CAROUSEL

THE EARTH and

HULA HOOP (The P is missing its circle from the grid below, but not from the puzzle itself).

and the reveal:

40A. How the things in the circled letters go: AROUND AND AROUND. The wheels on the bus ....

Now I've got that ear worm stuck in your heads ... good effort from Mark. The eight-letter progressions all start at the same place in the "wheel", the fill is nice with some fresh entries: OLLIE and SICK BURN! are nods to the yutes ("What's a yute?" My Cousin Vinnie) and some trickery-pokery making a nice Thursday work-out.

Lets explore:

Across:

1. Disheveled: MUSSY. Many will have had MESSY. I like MUSSY, as in having your hair mussed.

6. __ 180: skateboarding trick: OLLIE. Of course, I do these every day. Not! I tried skateboarding way back when but I just didn't have the balance for it. I couldn't even stand still on one.

11. Piqued: IN A HUFF. The other meaning is "stimulated" as in "he piqued my interest".

14. Maximally moist: DEWIEST

16. Star name meaning "she-goat" in Latin: CAPELLA

17. Weather-changing currents: EL NIÑOS

18. Footless creature: APOD. Footless MP4 player: iPOD.

19. Snorkeling spots: ATOLLS

21. Letters after Sen. Schumer's name: D-NY Democrat -  New York, naturally. Nice bit of trickery this, as the answer could have been, but wasn't, DEM.

22. Eponymous brewer Bernhard: STROH. There's a quite significant memorial to the gentleman in Detroit. He and his German compatriots revolutionized the brewing industry in the US.


24. Adjust one's sights: RE-AIM

26. Assurance on certain menus: NO MSG. As the great food writer Jeffrey Steingarten asked: "If MSG is so bad for you, why doesn't everyone in Asia have a headache?".

29. Uzbek neighbor: TAJIK. These are the languages of the people (Uzbekis, Tajiks) in the countries Uzbekistan and Tajikstan.

33. Name prefix for "son of": MAC

36. Settled: REPAID

39. U.N. chief after Boutros: KOFI. Kofi Annan who held the post from 1997 to 2006. He told stories about being mistaken for Morgan Freeman.


43. Withdraw gradually: WEAN

44. Actor Estevez: EMILIO

45. Hot __: ROD

46. Numerical relationship: RATIO

48. Citrus cuttings: ZESTS

50. Red pool ball: THREE. I don't play a lot of pool, but I knew it had to be the three or the seven. I'm pretty sure everyone knows that the eight ball is black.

53. Bay of Naples isle: CAPRI

57. [Shrug]: MEH. Oh, those kids of today, making up words and all. It's like English is a living language. *grumble*

60. Beer mug with a hinged lid: SEIDEL. I don't think I knew this. Mr. Stroh would have known.

63. Believability, briefly: CRED. Almost always with his buddy "street".

64. Device that builds six-packs?: AB TONER. Tried AB ROLLER and ran out of space.

66. Admonish: REPROVE

68. Like some sports contract clauses: NO-TRADE. Usually at the request of the player, a clause is inserted in the contract stipulating that the player cannot be traded without his or her consent.

69. Jumps to conclusions: ASSUMES

70. "Hop __": Dr. Seuss book: ON POP

71. Young salmon: SMOLT

Down:

1. Flaky minerals: MICAS. Not TALCS then?

2. Not suitable: UNAPT

3. Quality that affects taste: SAPOR. You'd be tempted by "SAVOR" when you had most of the letters in place. I was. I resisted.

4. Sprinkle with hair, cat-style: SHED ON. "Sprinkle" doesn't seem quite accurate in describing the process, but it'll do.

5. Brynner of "The Ten Commandments": YUL. He came a long way, literally. He was born in Vladivostok.

6. Takes full responsibility: OWNS IT

7. Full deck in old Rome?: LII. Fifty-two cards in a full deck of cards. Roman ones were carved out of marble and were very heavy. You had to train with the Roman army for two years before you were strong enough to play bridge.

8. Allow to use: LEND

9. Airs: IS ON. It took me a while to parse this one out.

10. Crafter's website: ETSY

12. Southernmost of the 48 sts.: FLA. Not really, not any more. This gets the (archaic) qualifier in my book.

13. Butter or lard: FAT

14. Editorial mark: DELE. Indicating deletion.

15. First name in scat: ELLA

20. Put in order: ORGANIZED

23. It may be heard on the street: HORN. Definitely heard around these parts.

25. Powerful shark: MAKO

27. Ancient Persian: MEDE. Usually seen in the plural as in "The Medes".

28. Email folder: SPAM

30. Day in Dijon: JOUR

31. "__ One Will Listen": Kelly Clarkson song: IF NO I was going to link the song as I'd not found a musical interlude today, so I went to listen to it on YouTube. I spared you the link.

32. Captain hanged for piracy: KIDD

33. Bryn __ College: MAWR

34. Vicinity: AREA

35. Nail polish layer: COAT

37. Not engaged: IDLE

38. Stand during a lecture: DAIS

41. Army outfit: UNIT

42. Campus mil. group: ROTC

47. "Sick burn!": OH SNAP! I've never heard anyone say "sick burn!" in my life. This is what Google came up with - I still don't understand it. I'm getting too old for this stuff :)


49. Bone at the base of the spine: SACRUM

51. Pond plant: REED

52. Cork locale: EIRE. Oh, begorrah, the Emerald Isle. It's green because it rains. A lot. Just so you know.

54. Teaser: PROMO

55. Glory (in): REVEL

56. Often-abbreviated Latin phrase: ID EST i.e. that is. I enjoyed writing that!

57. When repeated including "a," fighting term: MANO-a-mano

58. Black, in verse: EBON

59. URL intro: HTTP. All together now: "Hyper Text Transfer Protocol".

61. Notable time: ERA

62. Paris article: LES. Not the article you drop in the street.

65. Top medalla: ORO. Gold medal in Spain. I think they now give out medals in the World Cup, the quadrennial 2018 tournament is starting shortly in Russia. I watched every game in the last World Cup. If my blogs are short and littered with soccer references for the next month, please forgive me.

67. Ltr. addenda: P.S.'S. Postscripts. I had no idea how to punctuate this, so I guessed. I find it funny when I get an email with a PS - wouldn't it be easier to put in where it belongs in the text?

I think I'm done - I'll just check my internal temperature with my meat thermometer. I'm looking for medium-rare.

Steve



62 comments:

Lemonade714 said...

I find puzzles like today mind-boggling as I do not have the spatial imagination to think in terms of placing 4 terms/words in adjoining spaces creating circles. Awesome. Does he start with just those spaces and then look for fill?

If that were not enough, for me this was one of the more difficult Thursday LAT puzzles I have faced. CAPELLA- I admit I do not know much astronomy, but I studied Latin for many years, know the word CAPPELLA but never knew of this small female goat.

Also, despite having my two sons andnephew work in the beer business, SEIDEL has never sidled into my world. I knew this SIDLE who my wife comments on everytime we see a CSI repeat. She says ไม่สวย which is not flattering.

Iknew OLLIE from my sons skateboarding, SAPOR because we have had it this year and KOFI because it is a fun name, though I think the resemblance to Morgan Freeman is exaggerated.

Steve, please tell me why Florida is no longerthe southernmost of the continental 48? Loved your write-up, you slipped in some seriously funny stuff today.

Thanks Mark and Steve, welcome Becky E. Yaluma and all you newbies, it keeps the Corner flowing. Nice to hear the good news healthwise and sorry I was busy at work yesterday because that was an old-fashioned Corner lively discusson day on many topics.

D4E4H said...

Thank you Mr. Mark McClain for this appropriately difficult Thursday CW. I had to BAIL in a couple of places. Last to fill was the "P" at the corner of 53A and 54D. I paid dearly for this letter, but it helped me finish.

Thanks Steve for your wild review. It got woolier, and woolier the farther I read. Good job.

REVIEW OF THE REVIEW:

16A - Star name meaning "she-goat" in Latin: CAPELLA - So is "a cappello" related. No, it is Italian for "in the manner of the chapel" To be even more frustrating, it can be spelled "a capella."

71A - Young salmon: SMOLT - I desperately wanted smelt. I pushed the E hard, but it kept popping out. It turns out smelts are a family of small fish, not small salmons.
- - I LIU, and found that salmon start as Salmon eggs. I knew this much. Next they are sac fry, fry, and parr, all before smolt. The parr lose their camouflage bars and become smolt as they become ready for the transition to the ocean. Salmon enter the ocean as post-smolt and mature into adult salmon. They gain most of their weight in the ocean.

12D - Southernmost of the 48 sts.: FLA. Not really, not any more. This gets the(archaic) qualifier in my book. - Please explain your comment. Info from WIKI fillows:

Western Dry Rocks, Florida (24°26.8′N 81°55.6′W) – In the Florida Keys - southernmost point in the 48 contiguous states occasionally above water at low tide

Ka Lae, Hawaii (18°54′39″N 155°40′52″W) – southernmost point in the 50 states

Nā'ālehu, Hawaii (19°3′57″N 155°35′15″W) – southernmost town in the 50 states

Mike Sherline lives here. Mike, how is your air quality, cough.

Ðave

D4E4H said...

_______
J
Like the CW I asked for help to unjumble Jim, but I gotter done.
_______

Ðave

desper-otto said...

Good morning!

OK, I admit it. I finished with MESSY/ENAPT. UNAPT never occurred to me...still doesn't [ugh!]. DNF! Ya got me, Mark. Thanx for the 'splainin', Steve, but I think you're gonna lose that geography argument.

SEIDEL -- I used to work with a guy who had that family name. Never knew what it meant.

Still don't have a clue as to when it's EIRE, ERIN or ERIE. Try 'em all until one sticks.

This looks to become a chore-free Thursday. Yay! Free day.

Mark McClain said...

I'm going to jump in early today with a couple of comments.

First, apologies for some of the iffy fill, which was made necessary by this goofy theme and all the entries that touch multiple theme letters. This was exacerbated by a change requested by Rich as explained in the next paragraph.

Originally, I only had the four "wheels" as the theme, but Rich thought it would be better with that 15-letter reveal entry across the middle. It didn't really need the reveal, but he thought it would be cooler with it, and I guess I agree. Anyway, now we've got 48 entries that touch theme letters and 30 of them touch two theme squares - a real nightmare to fill, especially for a constructor who hates to use drecky words in the grid.

So, thanks to everyone who took it in stride and plugged through this one. It was a slog for me, too. Look for my puzzle in tomorrow's Puzzle Society entry.

Anonymous said...

I think Steve meant that the abbreviation for Florida as FLA is archaic.

jfromvt said...

I usually don’t care for circles in the grid, but this one was pretty cool! And some tough answers too....nice puzzle!

Oas said...

Good morning all.
Thanks Mark for the construct and Steve for the review.
Needed a little help to FIR today.
Did not know TAJIK or JOUR .
Steve — The clue for FLA says 48 states. So it is correct for the continental USA . Hawaii is farther south if you think 50 States.
Liked the theme and the grid spanner gave me the D for captain KIDD . Thought Ahab first because I was thinking Hot TUB . — very invigorating to steam in a Hot Tub then go roll in the snow and hurry back to the Hot Tub . Too much maintenance for me to consider getting one myself. I prefer basking in the sun in summer. So muchso that we have paid for some tropical sunshine many a winter holiday.
G’day all

Spitzboov said...

Good morning everyone.

Solved most of it well enough. Needed help in the SW with the ABTONER / OH SNAP cross. Found the circles annoying and didn't pay attention to them.
FLA - The clue was clear that we were talking about the 48 (continental or pre Alaska/Hawaii as states)
KIDD - I once helped give a briefing to ADM Isaac Kidd (SACLANT), who earlier had been a Capt. Kidd. His father was RADM Isaac C. Kidd who, as commander of a battleship division, was killed on the bridge of the USS Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack. The USS Kidd, a Fletcher class destroyer named after him, is part of the naval museum at Baton Rouge, LA and well worth a visit.

inanehiker said...

Creative puzzle Mark with the circles and the circular theme answers!
I guessed at the P in the CAPELLA because the zodiac sign for goat is CAPRICORN-
and then it worked for the perp!

Late for work - happy Thursday!
Thanks for a fun write-up Steve!

Mark McClain said...

Good guess about the FLA comment, but just because the USPS came up with a scheme of two-letter abbreviations for states, it didn't render the traditional abbreviations obsolete. "Fla." yields 17 million hits in Google News, so it's still widely used and accepted as an abbreviation for Florida, as borne out in various dictionaries.

Madame Defarge said...

Good Morning.

Thanks, Mark, for some Thursday fun and for stopping by to explain a bit about how you did this. I agree with Lemonade: I have a hard time visualizing how these creations take place. Bravo! I struggle across but picked up speed on the downs.

Thanks to all of you for your good wishes for my MIL in her new digs. Like I said to her yesterday, 95 (coming up on 6-25) is a good age to have a new adventure!

Have a sunny day.

SwampCat said...

Am I losing my mind? (Don’t answer that!)

I have worked this exact puzzle before. Even remembered the obscure stuff. Loved it then. Loved it today. I guess you gave me a double treat, Mark. Thanks.

Steve, thanks for walking us through.

SwampCat said...

Spitz, thanks for the history lesson on all the Kidds. I have seen the USS KIDD In Baton Rouge. Very interesting.

kazie said...

Like some of you, I found this on the difficult side for a Thursday.

As for "sick burn", having never heard of it or "oh snap", and misreading it as "sick bum", it changed my whole perception of it. When my bum is sick, I say I "have the trots".

WikWak said...

Excellent puzzle, Mark. Thanks so much for dropping by today. And Steve, you were in rare form today. Thanks.

I FIR in a bit over 18 minutes but it didn’t give up without a fight.

SEIDEL—It’s not often that I encounter a word I’ve never seen before (I may not remember what it means, but I know that I have seen it before). Today I encountered SEIDEL. Wait, what?

ISON—Boy howdy, did it take me a long time to parse this one. I knew from the perps that it had to be correct but for the longest time I was just clueless without a clue. OH SNAP!

I don’t always use the circles, but it doesn’t bother me when they show up. I don’t think I understand just what it is that others find so distracting.

Swamp Cat: Dèja Vú all over again?

Have a great day, all!

Husker Gary said...

Musings
-I had A R O U N D _N _ _ R _ _ _ _ and confidently put in AROUND IN CIRCLES in this great puzzle
-Thanks for the look behind the constructor’s curtain, Mark
-I had MESSY/ENAPT which looked as good a MUSSY/UNAPT to me
-Another S T _ _ _ Beer
-CAPRI may be the most beautiful place we have ever been
-To move from the Rangers to the Yankees, AROD waived his NO TRADE clause and moved to 3B to accommodate Derek Jeter at SS
-OWN IT – “Victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan” (La victoria trova cento padri, a nessuno vuole riconoscere l'insuccesso) (1942)~popularized by JFK but originated with Italian diplomat and son-in-law of Mussolini, Count Galeazzo Ciano (1903-1944), The Ciano Diaries, 1939-1943, Vol. 2.
-Me too, Steve, about IS ON in your always fun expo
-Most adolescent girls have fingernail polish that is mostly worn off
-You get this blog that is written in HTML by using HTTP for the URL

Irish Miss said...

Good Morning:

Messy vs Mussy and Savor vs Sapor got me off to a rocky start but, eventually, I got back on the right track. Other miscues were: Enapt/Unapt, Wettest/Dewiest, Smelt/Smolt, and In a snit rather than a Huff. The unknowns were Seidel and Tajik. I had no idea what Sick burn means but Oh snap is just as silly an expression, IMO. It was fun to see Kofi so soon after Boutros.

Thanks, Mark, for a Thursday treat with such a well-crafted theme and for dropping by, and thanks, Steve, for a most witty review; you were at the top of your game today! ☘

OMK, the Woody Allen films that I really liked were: Interiors, Crime and Misdemeanors, and Match Play. (I'm pretty sure these were all by WA , but correct me if I'm wrong.) Interiors co-starred Maureen Stapleton who was a Troy native. In fact, the theater at the local community college bears her name. I also liked Midnight in Paris very much.

FLN, Bill G, what a lovely compliment and well-deserved, I'm sure.

Have a great day.

Anonymous said...

This puzzle is a great example of why we shouldn't have "circle" puzzles.
Being too gimmicky, seriously detracted from the solving experience.

Steve said...

Yep, to clarify my Florida comment - the three-letter state abbreviations, at least per the USPS, are no longer used.

desper-otto said...

Anon-T, FLN, I got it assembled properly, but it did take two tries. I assumed, incorrectly, that it didn't matter which wheels went where. When the seat wound up at a 15° angle, I saw the error of my ways and corrected it. At least I didn't stoop so low as to actually read the directions...

SwampCat said...

WikWak, ...all over again! Absolutely

Misty said...

Well, this was a Thursday toughie for me, although I love circles (apologies for those who don't) and was actually delighted to get two of them before I had to start cheating. Lots of unknowns (TAJIK, SEIDEL, SMOLT [I too wanted SMELT], and SAPOR), and I've never heard of "SICK BURN." Like others, I thought MESSY and ENAPT were okay. And, like Husker Gary, I first put DEM instead of DNY. But all the complications actually made this a lot of fun, so thanks, Mark, and great that you checked in with us. And Steve your write-ups and pictures are always a pleasure. I especially enjoyed the KOFI/Freeman one this morning.

Spitzboov, your KIDD story was intriguing.

Wasn't able to get the J answer this morning, sadly.

Have a good day, everybody.

CrossEyedDave said...

My apologies for the quality of this link,
the difficulty of the puzzle theme versus fill
made it very hard to find suitable silliness...

Around and around...

SwampCat said...

LOL, CED !!

Picard said...

Not sure why some solvers dislike circles. Hand up with Lemonade I am in awe of the constructor's skill.

Oas: I am surprised you did not know JOUR. You must have heard of Soup du JOUR?

I was completely stuck with the clue "AIRS" and had no idea about Senator Schumer's letters. I was thinking he had been given some exotic award. Then the light went on to finish the puzzle! But apparently I FIW, falling for the SMELT trap. Argh! Had no idea what the cross PROME was and left it. This was definitely a tough one. Hand up never heard of CAPELLA and I belong to our local astronomy club! Nor MEDE. Nor SICK BURN.

I do know OLLIE from hanging out at our local skateboard park... watching. I once entered it on my in-line skates and some teen punks did some threatening behavior that I did not appreciate. I am impressed with the skill of the skate boarders! I know SACRUM from breaking mine. Not from skating. Hit by a car. Learning moment about MAC.

Here are a few of my Amsterdam WINDMILL photos. An amusing contrast of the traditional and the modern.

From yesterday:
AnonT and Lucina: Thank you for taking the time to look at my photos of the extraordinary street painting art. Including of DIANA Ross. Way cool, Lucina, that you got to see such art in Europe where they take it very seriously. In the early days of our Festival they imported European artists. Now some of my artist friends are invited to Europe to do their creations! Quite an honor!

Everyone else: If you did not check out this amazing art yesterday, here again is my article.

Lucina said...

Mark McClain, your circles in this puzzle are brilliant! I enjoyed reading HULA HOOP, WINDMILL, CAROUSEL and EARTH inside them. I can't even imagine what it takes to construct that kind of grid. It's quite ORGANIZED. Kudos to you! And thank you.

How interesting to have KOFI after our Boutros discussion. SEIDEL is unknown to me; I know only stein, pilsner and flute for glasses but none of those fit. Had to wait for perps and REED was a good misdirection from alga and lily.

The SW gave me fits but finally and painfully I sussed NOTRADE and ABTONER. In the SE however, I failed not willing to give up SMELT but knew PROME was wrong. Drat! I also had UNAPT/MESSY.

Thanks, Steve, for clarifying all that. And yes, FLA can still be used though not on letters.

OLLIE is my favorite new term; skateboarding not a puppet!

Have a sensational day, everyone! I hope yours is sunny.

becky edmondson said...

First thank you for being such a welcoming group. I’m glad as today was one of those Thursday puzzles that would have made me throw in the towel years ago. But I persevered! Knowing that just around the “corner” was such a helpful bunch to repair my bruised ego. Can I really not know so much?

In the end I loved the puzzle. I love circles, I love themes. Even when I fail to suss them out!

Things I learned today, embarrassingly, that ‘mac”was son of; that all pool balls have set numbers and colors not just the 8 ball; I have a seidel on the bar but never called it by it’s name.

Again thanks for the welcome and kind words yesterday. Especially on D day as I remembered my dad’s brother who was a pilot and flew on D day; used to call him on 6/6 and listen as he talked about the “boys” and he the old man at 23. Cheers to the Greatest Generation!

PK said...

Hi Y'all! I struggled but enjoyed the puzzle. Without the circles there was definitely no way to find out what goes AROUND AND AROUND in this clever design. Thanks, Mark.

Roman numerals two days in a row. LII filled, but I had no idea why. Very funny answer, Steve, which softened the sting of Duh! KOFI Annan looks like a more polished version of Morgan Freeman to me.

Last fill was OH SNAP. "Sick burn"? I wasn't able to open Steve' link for that so still don't understand.

CAPPELLA is a small goat? When you sing A CAPPELLA are you supposed to BLEAT? Latin is the mother of Italian language isn't it?

Grandson Aaron, the skate/snow boarder might know OLLIE. I've watched it on TV but didn't know.

Er uh, I didn't know pool balls had numbers or a red ball. Never spent any time around a pool hall/table.

Spitz: very interesting about the KIDDs.

CED: your link got a belly laugh from me. Glad I didn't have a mouthful of Pepsi just then to spew on the screen.

Big Easy said...

The NW was a toughie that was MESSY, instead of MUSSY (a word I've never heard), and I couldn't decide if it was INAPT, INEPT or ENAPT, but UNAPT was never a thought. Not ever having heard of the 'she-goat' CAPELLA (which I DID get) didn't help. The rest of the puzzle I managed to get through unscathed.

I knew STROH ( and actually like it when it was available) but SEIDEL was all perps.
I agree with Steve & Kazie on "sick burn" and ON SNAP- both are new to me. OLLIE I only know of from X-word puzzles.

Mark- I'll tip my hat and bow to you on this puzzle. I'm always concerned with finishing puzzles, not looking for themes, which IMHO make puzzles easier than they should be. I was about to comment about FL instead of FLA. I'm wondering when the USPS will make zip codes mandatory. I always use a 9 digit zip when it is available.

Bill G said...

Hi everybody. Thanks Mark and Steve.

I don't think there are many people who don't like circles. I think the problem lies with the Mensa site for the online puzzle (and maybe others) who don't include the circles. With no circles, it often makes sussing out the theme difficult.

Picard, I liked the street art photos. Were any of the others the ones with amazing perspective when viewed from a special angle? Amazing and very creative.

Ol' Man Keith said...

A very clever pzl from Mr. McClain, so tricky that I didn't bother trying to crack the theme. Thanks to Steve for sticking it out & explaining it. It turned out to be aesthetically pleasing - attractive to the eye.

But Ta- DA! anyway, as I did manage to fill the grid, learning several things along the way. This was one of those pzls that surprised me with how much I know (that I didn't know I knew).
Like SAPOR and SEIDEL and SMOLT ...
(Funny to type the above words and then see the spellchecker putting red dots under each of them!)

Irish Miss, that's a good list - of your favorite Allen films. I haven't seen Match Point (not "Play"), but I'll put it on my Netflix list.
I like Maureen Stapleton's work very much. In grad school I "ghostwrote" a master's thesis on her in order to persuade the named author to act in my 2nd year production.

~ OMK

____________
Diagonal Report:
Just one today, the main anchor line (NW to SE).

Lemonade714 said...

My father built a bar in the finished basement and it had a set of six mugs which were ornate like this SET OF SEIDELS but we referred to them as Steins. If you want to be an expert, read THIS LINK .

Thanks for all the input Mark.

Chairman Moe said...

"Puzzling Thoughts":

First off, Mark McClain, thanks for chirping in with your explanations. I'm sure that as a constructor of crossword puzzles, you need a thick skin to repel any criticism from the bloggers ... Steve, great recap, and I now "get" the FL/FLA inference ... as an eight-year resident, I've only known it as FL

I guess this is technically a FIW, as I refused to LU any clues, and stuck with MESSY/ENAPT in the PNW. I had a Natick with TAJIK/IF NO; had ALGA > REED; WETTEST > DEWIEST; MAHR > MAWR. Needless to say, my ink-filled grid looks pretty MUSSY.

Of course I know "JOUR", as most of my poems are intro'd as: Moe-ku du JOUR

Speaking of poems, here are a few to peruse. Hope no one gets IN A HUFF when reading them ... they're not all puzzle-related

When a cute girl's top
Showed him a little cleavage,
Certainly, he piqued

A cannibal joked
About how he cooks a seer:
"Always, medium"

My semi, un-PC haiku du jour:

When Samantha called
Ivanka a c***, that took
A big set of balls ...

Peace out ...

Bill G said...

Being an old fart, I am used to and prefer the old state abbreviations except when needed as a postal address. Cal instead of CA, Fla instead of FL, and what about MA, ME, MI, MN, MS etc? I think the old ones are clearer though the newer postal codes are needed for mail addresses.

Moe: Very good stuff. Maybe even a little gooder than usual.

OAS said...

Picard @ 12:21
I've heard of soup de Jour . It just wouldn't click this morning .My Spanish is better than my French.

Anonymous said...

Let me count the ways I went wrong. NOT! I had all the already mentioned issues, plus Koop/KOFI. Thanks for the challenge, Mark M. Great expo, Steve, I needed a bit of help.

In a high school English class we were assigned to make a crossword puzzle. Epic fail, as expected, but a good experience. Kudos to all the constructors!

Misty, re J; Jim Morrison was the lead singer of the band The Doors. Does that help solve it?

It's been a good day today. Hope yours has been too!

Chairman Moe said...

Pat @ 3:46 and Misty @ 12:02, regarding today's Jumble (NSA):

While the solve seemed reasonable (and I got it), it wasn't really that funny/punny. Of course, as I am wont to put my puns out there for panning, I should live by the old saw: he who lives in a glass house shouldn't throw Rolling Stones ...

Bill G @ 3:23. Glad you liked; since it wasn't a true haiku (5-7-7), I really wanted my middle Moe-ku to read:

A cannibal joked
About how he cooks a seer:
"I like my medium, rare".

Irish Miss said...

CED @ 12:14 ~ Anytime you are at a loss for things to link, cute, cuddly canines are always welcome! 🐶

OMK @ 2:31 ~ I thought Match Play looked a little off; thanks for the correct title which makes much more sense, considering the story line. Maureen Stapleton's mother worked in the same office building as I did and I saw her often on the elevator. You would think you were standing next to the actress, they looked so much alike. Did you ever see her and Charles Durning in the Starlight Ballroom? I believe that title is correct but it was a long time ago, so I may have it wrong. I'm pretty sure it was a made-for-TV production.

Wilbur Charles said...

Oh no I blew it and didn't realize it until D4-DAVE pointed it out. I was thinking of an IMP and thought PROME was one of those xword words like EFT. Or Bambi's aunt.

J_. Dave you don't know your R&R. I did this in my head in a couple of minutes.
#4 took the last minute, I had too control my patience.

WC

Btw . I mussed up and tried to link a httpS .

Lucina said...

Becky Edmondson:

Welcome to our fun puzzle group! Over time you might want to organize your thoughts around certain areas of knowledge. I.E. in some languages "son" is denoted as MAC, MC, Bin or Ben, etc. Perhaps you have your own system of recalling terms.

I just went out to lunch with a friend who is celebrating her birthday today and had a delicious strawberry margarita! So it's nap time!

Irish Miss said...

OMK ~ Correction on the Stapleton/Durning collaboration: Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, 1975.

Jayce said...

I liked this puzzle. I think the theme is very clever. I certainly understand how difficult it must have been to find good fill after all the required stuff was in there. Great job, Mark. Lots of fun.

Been out and about with my wife most of the day today, including a nice lunch date at our favorite fish and chips place. I walked too much, though; overdid it and now I'm sore all over. You know the expression "Knock yourself out"? Well, I did (not literally.)

Greetings to all newcomers and best wishes to you all.

Picard said...

OAS: Glad to know you knew JOUR that way! Yes, my Spanish is also better than my French, which is not saying much!

BillG: Thank you for the kind words about my street painting photos. Unfortunately, there were not very many this year with that depth perspective nor that were anamorphic. In the early years there were more... because they brought in European artists!

Here I just posted my photos from our 1988 street painting festival.

You can see two examples of the depth perspective.

AnonymousPVX said...

Super crunchy thursday....

Desper-Otto....I made the same “messy” error as you.

And that’s it.

Misty said...

Bless you, Pat--you helped me finally solve the Jumble--a great relief!
Thanks, Chairman Moe--I like your Moe-kus.

Anonymous said...

Misty, you're welcome. Glad I could help. Most often I'm the one in need of help.

PK said...

Picard: I had such a bad experience yesterday when I opened Gary's link, I was afraid to try again. But I gathered my courage to open your chalk art links. Very worth the risk and worked out well. I enjoyed the creativity & color. Most amazing is the lack of knee pads on the artists. Ow!

CanadianEh! said...

Late to the party today. Thanks for the fun, Mark (thanks for dropping by) and Steve.

I got the theme, filled the circles in my newspaper, but had a few FIWs when I got here.
WEES about Savor/SAPOR, Alga/REED, Messy/MUSSY, Smelt/SMOLT, and needing perps for STROH, CAPELLA, TAJIK, DNY (this Canadian does not know your Senators).
My "Cork locale" was the Neck of a bottle, before EIRE filled the spot.

Add me to those who smiled at KOFI after Boutros on Tuesday, and LII after our VII yesterday. Could have been clued as "full deck for Livy"!

Enjoy the evening. Beautiful day here.
Provincial election day.

CanadianEh! said...

Re Jumble: DH always does the Jumble and when he cannot get the word(s), he passes it to me. It frustrates him how quickly I can unscramble the letters. I cannot do it just by looking at the letters; I must write them down and manipulate them. I have found that if I make one column with the consonants and another with the vowels, I can try out more letter combinations. Many times, I can get the final answer from the cartoon and clue. Then if I have a word that I am having trouble unscrambling, I work in reverse order and figure out what letters I need and play with them in the circles. I needed to do that with #4 today.
DH considers that to be cheating! I say "whatever works, eh!".

SwampCat said...

I figured out how I worked today’s puzzle yesterday. ( just scroll down here if you don’t care.)

Our town has 2 newspapers. One is a respectable, mainstream paper which delivers up to the minute news, puzzles and funnies seven days a week.

The other is a local tragedy. An out of town fortune seeker bought our centuries-old paper to kill it and make it a web site only thing.

After an outcry he agreed to deliver it three days a week. That means on a Wednesday we get three-day old news and three days of puzzles and comics.... Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

I assume Thursday’s puzzle was included yesterday. I also noticed the funnies were familiar this morning.

Very sloppy editing always, but this is a first!

Thanks for listening!

CrossEyedDave said...

This one's for Irish Miss...

Around and around...

Steve said...

@Becky - thanks for the reminder of yesterday - I was a little surprised that there was not a lot of news coverage for such an event. And also your reference to "The Greatest Nation" - if anyone needs a recommendation for reading, Tom Brokaw's book is excellent. I read it on a plane from the UK back home to LA. I couldn't put it down.

Wilbur Charles said...

Moe, shouldn't that be B***s

WC

Ol' Man Keith said...

Yes, Irish Miss, it was a beautiful made-for-TV movie, winning a couple of Emmys. I can't imagine better casting. Durning & Stapleton (and Charlotte Rae!) made Queen of the Stardust Ballroom a precious memory.

Mark McClain, my compliments on your exquisitely balanced discussion of the editorial process. I doubt anyone could express it more delicately!

~ OMK

Wilbur Charles said...

Picard, thx for reposting the art. Your picture of Rod at work is visual art in itself. Btw, what's the Polar Express connection? My wife Betsy knew the author.

Re. 6/6/44. My uncle is still alive and kicking. He was an August arrival but thought that on Point one day he was the furthest East Allied soldier.

J_
Misty, my earlier hunts were too vague eh? For a Rock (& Roll) familiar, the Doors popped out quick thus the answer. #4 was slow hence the hint "control".

But any Sudoku has proven out of my league. And...
Re. Canadian-eh and his method? How else are we to solve the tough Jumbles?

I tried to link Freddy Cannon and Tallahassee Lassie for FLA and my favorite Woody Allen movie "What's New Pussycat?".

WC

Picard said...

PK: Glad that you took the risk to enjoy the street painting art! Some of them do use knee pads. No matter what, it is tough! What happened when you tried to view Gary's link?

Wilbur Charles: Thank you for taking the time to look at the chalk art. Yes, I very much value the photo of Rod and of many of the other artists.

This one of my artist friend and dance partner Delphine is another favorite.

As for the Polar Express, I really don't understand it either. I know there are storms called the Polar Express. It was supposed to honor a family that was killed by the mud slides that we had in January following the massive wildfire. Not sure if that storm was a Polar Express.

But the art piece is memorably amazing.

Anyone else who has not looked at this art is really missing out!

Misty said...

Wilbur, sorry I'm so dense. With my trip coming up I'm especially distracted these days so don't be surprised if I get even more out of it in the next few days. But I'm happy you're doing the J, and will miss your comments when I'm away next week.

Irish Miss said...

CED @ 7:49 ~ Thanks for that clip which suits the theme of the puzzle to a T. I was hoping for something a little more cute and cuddly, though. You know, like adorable Bichons with all that fluffy fur and irresistible playfulness. Wink, wink, hint, hint!

OMK @ 9:24 ~ I think I'll try to get that show through Netflix or Amazon; I remember it as a very poignant story.

BTW, Jack was discharged from the hospital today and is feeling great. The miracles of modern medicine!

Anonymous T said...

Hi All!

Late, late, late... Had dinner with some buddies and we didn't meet until after-dark (Ramadan)...

FIW - MeSSY and (hi OAS!) soup du tOUR (D'Oh! - the V8 hurt when I saw Steve's 'J').

Oh well, it was a fun puzzle. Thanks Mark for this wicked-hard Thursday - I enjoyed the theme (THE EARTH was 1st) and your execution; Tip o' the Hat. Thanks also for stopping in with some inside-baseball.

Great expo Steve; I LOL'd at LII. Unlike you, I fell for SAvOR (HULA HOOP saved that) and Dem is yet another WO.

I've got two teenage girls so I've heard 'sick burn' / OH SNAP! (Usually directed at me)

Fav: I'll go w/ KOFI after Ghali on Tuesday.

{}{LOL, cute, :-)}

Becky - I didn't know that either and noticed DNF when looking for MAC - I didn't have the M! I was so happy to finish the SE that I forgot to go back for the ABC-run before checking w/ Steve if I SE right. [iDEST - Apple's navigation guide?]

D-O: LOL EIRE, ERIN, etc. And who needs directions :-)

Swamp - LOL; I was afraid you let the cat-out-of-the-bag or something when you said you solved this before. As I understand, Rich only allows 1st runs :-)

IM - Good new on Jack!

Cheers, -T

Lucina said...

IM:
That is good news about Jack! Thank you for posting.

Anonymous said...

AnonT

Americanized or not. We have the most varied options for food. I've traveled the world, as have most of you, and the US has the most varied and Inclusive food options I've witnessed.